It's almost Oct. 15

First, a couple gripes, brought to you fresh by the toy collecting world and its insanity.

I was "hanging out" at the Fwoosh earlier, checking out the DCUC wave 10 sightings thread from Philadelphia (where my family lives), and read the harrowing tale of a fellow Philadelphian as he went to Walmart every single day for a week and a half, having heard they would receive 2 cases of DCUC wave 10. He arrived at 6:40am on the day the case was to arrive, and ran to the toy aisle because there was another person there running to the toy aisle. They got there, cleaned out all of the DCUC wave 10 figures (apparently, a Walmart employee kept one of the cases for himself), and that was it.

Maybe I'm not as dedicated as other people, but holy crap. That's insanity. I can't ever see myself doing something like that, even though I want that Batman and Man-Bat a whole bunch.

Okay, enough griping. Now it's time to rejoice. Behold, taken directly from Mattycollector.com, are the in-package photos of the 12" Ray Stantz figure. And oh, how my heart leaps in my chest! That packaging is awesome, and even though the 6" packaging eventually grew on me, this makes me happy from the start. It even has a drawer, in which to keep the head-busting (in a spiritual sense, of course) gear. I can't wait to hold this in my hands.

The detail on the proton pack looks incredible, too. Ray comes with Ecto-goggles and Egon comes with a PKE meter. They all come with working traps too, which is incredibly exciting. I mean, the head sculpts are obviously nowhere near the caliber of Hot Toys, but the $60 price tag is also nowhere near them. Honestly, if you think about it, none of the Real Ghostbusters figures look like the characters from the show (when did they wear odd space suits and use green fishing rods as ghost-catching equipment?), so it's not likeness that drives my love for these toys, it's something else.

Also, official photos of the 6" Ray (and his description) confirm that the logo ghost glows in the dark. I'm so stoked, words can't even begin to describe it. The glow from this logo ghost will be a perfect addition to my movie-GB shelf, and will continue to add to the awesomeness that is my whole Ghostbuster collection. Eventually I'll have Winston (by December, unless Mattel plays with my heart again), and then no Venkman until July 2010... which is annoying. I'll be living in an entirely different state, I'll have my M.D. degree, and most importantly, I'll have the containment unit that comes with Walter Peck.

Damn you, Mattel (also, thanks for making awesome figures)

Mattel just posted the upcoming release dates of figures on their facebook page. It breaks down like this (edited to only include things of value to me):

Oct 15:
Ghostbusters 12" Ray - $60.00
Ghostbusters 6" Ray - $20.00
Dark Knight Movie Masters Bank Robber Joker - $20.00

Nov 15:
Dark Knight Proto Suit Batman $20.00

Dec 15:
Ghostbusters 12" Egon $60.00
Ghostbusters 6" Winston with Trap - $20.00
Dark Knight MM Harvey Dent $20.00

First, why is there no Ghostbusters figure scheduled for release in November? That's really annoying, and I wish they'd at least explain why things keep getting delayed (6" Ray was supposed to come out this month, remember?). Oh well. Gives me a month to save up the $80 needed to buy a 12" and a 6" figure simultaneously, because that Egon and all his accessories look unstoppable. I have absolutely no room on my Ghostbusters shelf for him, so I'm going to have to figure something out. I also wonder what the packaging for the 12" figures will look like. I grew to like the 6" cards, but I think that the 12" should be better.

Anyway, speaking of spending only $80, it looks like the Dark Knight Movie Masters are finally going to come out. They're an insane $20 (slightly higher than the $10.99 they were--or still are-- at Walmart), and the idea of paying that plus $8 shipping for a MM figure seems far too crazy. However, and I hate to say it, if I'm dropping $80 on Ghostbusters crap, I could spend the $20 and combine shipping on all of it. That's $40 plus tax plus $2.67 shipping per item for two 6" figures. Ugh. I really need to think about how much my money is worth to me, because the in-package photos (of Dent, at least, the only one I've seen) honestly do excite me. I wish I wasn't so emotionally invested in this line. These figures have no accessories, the line has been mishandled, and they're not worth it! Damn you, Mattel.

I've got some thinking to do. In the meantime, I'll wait with bated breath for my eBay winnings to arrive in the mail. I'm leaving for Chicago tomorrow and won't be back for over a week, so I'd love to see the stuff before I go. I doubt it will happen though. We shall see.

I bit the bullet

Today, I celebrate another eBay victory. By putting down my lucky Real Ghostbusters eBay Bid Total^TM, $151.55, I was able to nail down THREE (3) MOC Slimed Heroes, ONE (1) MOC Power Pack Egon, and ONE (1) MISB Ecto-1A.

The box on Ecto-1A is pretty beat up, but that's okay because I'm going to open it, and depending on the condition of the Slimed Heroes boxes (you never can tell with these eBay people), I may open them too. The Egon I think I'll try to sell or trade to the local store with old stuff, if they take trades or buy; the reason being, we had the Power Pack Heroes when I was a kid, so there's little nostalgic magic in owning them again. (However, it's interesting because back in the early 90's, my mom purchased all of the Power Pack figures and stored them away as an "investment." My brothers and I discovered them, flipped out, and she let us open them all. Oh well).My plan for the Egon is to either sell him, or use him to secure complete, loose Slimed Heroes Peter and Egon, which I believe they have at the local vintage toy shop. I feel one MOC figure for two loose figures is a fair trade, but who knows how these people will react.

I also got a letter today from the state of California, which says that Toy Rocket has filed for bankruptcy. This affects me, I suppose, because I have my Police Joker on pre-order with them. Looks like I won't be getting him any time soon. Sigh. There aren't any big Batman figures coming out other than that one that excite me, especially now that Movie Masters seems to have gone to the big toy box in the sky. If the price on these is $20 plus $8 shipping, I'm going to be the better man and walk away. I can't justify that, especially considering I paid less than that for both variants when these were ToyFare's Most Wanted and incredibly rare. Oh well.

Finally, I got my brother a very very late birthday present (and a "thanks for going to TRU to get me the minimates" present), the entire first series of Medicom's 20th anniversary Medal Gear Solid 7" figures. I'm waiting for the notice that this was a complete lie or something, because I got all 5 for $10 apiece with no shipping charge, directly from Hong Kong. There was feedback left from people who bought this same thing, and it was all positive, so I'm hopeful that it arrives at his place within 2 weeks.

And that, my friends, is all for now.

Just when I was about to give up...

Yesterday, I drove 40 minutes to the only other TRU in driving distance (reasonable driving distance, anyway) to check for GBMM's. And, like usual, the Ghostbusters peg was completely empty, while the Marvel and Terminator pegs were overflowing.

I called my brother in Delaware and asked if he would check the TRU near him, since apparently there's one not far away from his house. He got out of work, went home, leisurely made his way there, and FOUND ALL OF SERIES 2.

Mixed emotions gripped me: I was very happy because I thought I was never going to get them, but I was also annoyed. Why is it that here, and in North Carolina when I looked, and Southeast PA when I was home, there was nothing? And then randomly, in Dover, DE, all of them are just hanging out. It's frustrating!

(By the way, that awesome checklist is stolen from here.)

Anyway, I pre-ordered the GB2 Ray/Glowing Slimer pack and the series 2 "comic shop" set (all for below list price! Woo), so now I need the Red Stay Puft, Washington Square, and SDCC exclusive glowing Stay Puft sets to be complete. I'm not interested in the game set... at least not until I get the game.

Overall, I'm pleased.

Sent by my brother as torture.

This lack of minimates makes me annoyed

Yesterday, after finishing my shift in the emergency room, I went to the Toys R Us across the street to try my luck at finding some Ghostbusters minimates. Hanging alone, surrounded by Marvel and Terminator minimates, was a Venkman/Energized Terror Dog 2-pack and nothing else.

Sigh.

Since I currently own 2 terror dogs and a slimed Venkman, I'd have to say this was the least exciting GBMM pack I could have found. I still got it, because I've got a problem, but I'm fine with that. I just can't justify spending the incredibly gouged prices on eBay for these and the 2 series 1 packs I didn't get.

Now, for some good news!

F: So, the focus right now seems to be on the movie versions of all of the characters, but what about The Real Ghostbusters cartoon? Is there a current direction and time frame for those possible figures?

SN: Well, nothing that we can announce right now.

F: Would you integrate those into an overall Ghostbusters Classics line?

SN: We have some plans and the fans will know soon enough. We are actually looking at the old toy line for some inspiration on things like ghosts and equipment.

F: I always loved those clear PVC pack-in ghosts from the animated line.

SN: Absolutely. Ghostbusters is still really early so we can’t divulge too much information right now, but it is going to be a lot of fun!

Holy crap. They are looking at the old toy line for inspiration. I can't explain how seriously excited this makes me without invoking this classic moment in television history. I'm not entirely sure what it means, but their emphasis on ghosts and equipment might mean they'll re-release some of the clear PVC ghosts from the original line. Of course, since these ghosts were re-released within that line amongst different series, I basically have them all, but that does not dissuade me from being excited about the prospects.

I'm also pretty sure I posted that exact question on the Fwoosh's "Ask Mattel" thread, so that pleases me as well.

Finally, I'm currently watching on eBay 3 Slimed Heroes, 1 Power Pack Egon (included with the Slimed Heroes and mislabeled as such because, presumably, the seller cannot read) and Ecto-1A, currently at $50. I'll let you know if I bite the bullet.